Portable Audio Recorder for Interviews?

[Anthony Marzilli]

I have used this in the past https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/432017-REG/Fostex_FR2_LE_FR_2_LE_2_Channel.html#at

two inputs… usb… flash card… all that you’ve mentioned. No built in mic but a simple recorder for work in the field.

[Bob Kessler]

A few more details would be helpful. Do you want a hand-held mic? What kind of camera are you using? Is this run & gun or sit-down interviews? Both? These and many other factors will determine your equipment needs.

[Brian Reynolds]

Maybe im reading between the lines but are you also wanting to then sync those recordings up to the video captured on the camera?

The difference between Knowledge and Wisdom is… Knowledge is the knowing of facts…. Wisdom is the sensible application of good quality knowledge…

[Aume Daye]

Hey, thanks for the response!

Yes, we want a hand-held mic for the interviewed to hold and just tip back and forth between her and the guest. It’s for interviews usually on location at events. For example, the last one we did, we were interviewing a designer outside of the building she was about to have her first fashion show. All of the interviews are like this.

We sometimes will want a lavalier pinned to the guest instead, but that’s not really priority, though any suggestions on great lapel mics would be nice.

The audio recorder is our main focus. It can be handheld or the kind that does have a stand it can be fitted to, it doesn’t matter.

We’re not hooking these up to the camera and we use whatever cameras we have available on the day besides. All of that is separate equipment we’ve already got going.

The portable audio recorder is just something we need to record audio independent of whatever else we’re recording to as well so we have that as a backup or sometimes a primary or sometimes the only thing we’re using like when we’re doing interviews with no footage.

Basically, this is something we just need to add to our arsenal to give us more options than we currently have, including options that don’t require a camera to be used as an audio recording device on site when we don’t actually need a camera.

[Aume Daye]

All of the scenarios we ideally want to be able to use this portable recorder for will be the following:

1) We’re just using it by itself. Just the interviewer/guest talking into the mic hooked up to the recorder. We’ll then prep the audio to be listened to by our staff and members. These are the ones we usually do in house.

2) We’re using it to record the audio while we shoot either because we don’t want to use the camera’s line in or onboard mic or we simply want to have a second audio source to compare with or transcribe from on top of the mics we’ve jacked into our cameras.

All of our on location interviews are like this except up until this point, we don’t use any portable recorders. We just use all of our cameras and mics or the equipment of the ones commissioning the interviews. It varies depending on how far we’re traveling and the location.

For the different equipment we own, we like everything to have its own set of mics and accessories so that no one has to wait for someone else to finish using something if they have another project to go off on, so we’d like to get a mic that will always be kept with the audio recorder.

So the recorder is the priority. If we have to just get a recorder and use the best mics for the job that we already have, fine. It’s just a preference that we buy a mic with the recorder.

Syncing everything is a non-issue. Using a small portable recorder is just new to us because we’re used to using our cams with mics lined in, our mobile studio, or being in-studio. We haven’t really had something you can just pop out of your pocket and plug a mic into.

All of the pre and post work is covered. We just need a portable device to give us more options and lighten the load when we don’t really need all of that other stuff for what we’re trying to accomplish.

3) We’re using it by itself with its built-in directional mics to record sounds from a static position for review, not to be synced up with any footage, just to have the audio used with b-roll or fun funny sound bytes or whatever. We only need it for this purpose for some of the weird performances (not music) and things we do.

That’ll be the only three things we’re using it for, numbers 1 and 2 being priority. I have a friend who owned a Zoom, but he moved so I never got a chance to play around with it.

Now we’re in a situation where we need to be able to order something to test out for another interview we’re doing and we have to just have it mailed there. It’s just going to be backup at this point and we’ll see how well it works sound quality wise, but we want to be sure that the hardware itself suits our needs in terms of formats and inputs before worrying about the quality of the recordings.

Hope that’s sort of explained everything!

[Aume Daye]

Hey Anthony, thanks for the link, I’ll take a look!

[Jordan Wolf]

Well, in addition to the recorders already mentioned, you could look at this one. There are a few different versions (omnidirectional vs. cardioid, line-level input or no).

Wolf
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[Aume Daye]

Hehe sound bytes = sound bites! Ignore me. My typing will get worse and worse by the end of this LOL

[Aume Daye]

Hey Jordan, thanks for the link! We’ve seen the flash mics do have great features, but we’re looking for something more basic and not so specific to being best suited for interviews even though that’s what we’re using this for now. We want to carry our recorder over into our other projects eventually if it performs well with just our interviews.

[Aume Daye]

Hmm. Maybe I’ll just tell them to pick one and go with it and we’ll just test it out when it gets there. If it’s not quite right, we’ll just send it back and keep looking. It’s their budget so they’ll know what quality they can be happy with at the price point they’re asking and settle on something eventually. I just wanted to help them make a good guess at what to try first LOL